Kwara workers lament nonpayment of arrears

Workers in Kwara State have continued to lament negligence by the state government over irregular salary payment. As a result of this most of the workers in the state have resorted to shunning of their work places to express their dissatisfaction to  the state government. The state civil service, tertiary institutions staff, local government workers […]

Workers in Kwara State have continued to lament negligence by the state government over irregular salary payment.
As a result of this most of the workers in the state have resorted to shunning of their work places to express their dissatisfaction to  the state government.
The state civil service, tertiary institutions staff, local government workers as well as pensioners while recounting their ordeals said many of their members have died; some are critically ill and their children have been sent out of schools due to the irregular payment of salaries by the state government. 
They also said that they have become objects of mockery before their landlords because they could not foot their bills as a result of the unpaid salaries.
Many of  the  workers believed  that the  nonchalant  attitude of  the  state government  on the workers welfare is  because the governor is  presently serving  his second tenure and would not be seeking re-election. 
The state government has, however continued to deny owing the state workers in different platforms and that there is no reason for anyone or group to incite trouble on that account. 
The state governor Ahmed Abdulfatah during the last monthly media chat in Ilorin confirmed that salaries of some workers have not been paid and explained that the delay in the payment of primary school teachers and local government council workers was because the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has not released the N5billion bailout meant for the payment.
He however said that tertiary institutions are expected to pay their salaries from their internally generated revenue because they are among the revenue generating agencies in the state including the state owned media houses.
“It is the responsibility of local government council chairmen in the state to pay the primary school teachers and council workers in the state. I want to challenge the teachers in the primary schools and council workers to ask the council chairmen in the state for non-payment of their salaries because it is not my responsibility to pay them,” he said.
However workers in the state have asked the state governor to live up to expectations by being sensitive to the plight of workers who voted for his re-election.
The Chairman of Kwara State chapter of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Yekeen Kareem Agunbiade said the state civil servants, state pensioners and state hospital service workers have not been paid up to  December while local government pensioners are being  owed  half of their June pension and  salaries from August till date.
The chairman who also complained about the dwindling allocation from the federal government, said the state still has problem in the payment of SUPEB staff because the local government and the SUPEB usually receive their salaries with the same allocation but the allocation is not enough to pay their salaries alone.
“For instance, for September allocation, the federal government release N1.3 billion for the state and SUPEB salary alone is N1.3 billion, local governments salary is over N600 million, pensioners take over N400 million while traditional rulers get over N50 million.
“This means that the allocation released to the state can only cover SUPEB salary and that was why the state government set up a committee to look into the accounts of the two and find solution to the problem.  Salaries of SUPEB and local governments are still pending because the government is trying to access loan to pay them. The salaries should be paid as soon as the government gets the loan,” Agunbiade said.
Agunbiade said that the state tertiary institutions’ salaries issue is pathetic because the government still owes them  six to seven months salaries and have to wait for their internally generated revenues to get paid.
“It has not been easy for this set of workers who have seen many of their colleagues dying, many became sick, many of their children sent out of school while others have resorted to menial jobs as a means of survival.
“Our morale to work has been killed with the state government’s attitude towards our plight, it is not possible to continue to work without getting our entitlements,” he added.
The Chairman, Committee of Unions in Tertiary institutions (CUTI), Comrade AbdulKareem Amuda-Kannike said the workers of Kwara State Water Corporation,  Ilorin also protested at the state capital over non- payment of their four months salary arrears from the month of July to October, 2015 recently.
Also, the students of the state tertiary institutions took their protest to the state House of Assembly where they expressed their displeasure to the state government over nonpayment of their lecturers’ salaries.
Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Ali Ahmad promised to intervene in the ongoing crisis at the State Colleges of Education which has led to indefinite industrial action.
He however appealed to the affected students to maintain calm while the House takes necessary steps to resolve the issue.
The NLC has continued to appeal to the state government to clear all the salaries arrears of workers, especially that of the state tertiary institutions without tying it to their Internally Generated Revenue. 
The NLC said that the issue of Internally Generated Revenue should be discussed with the affected institutions after  their salary arrears  have been offset while urging  the owed  workers of the state tertiary institutions to continue with their strike action  until their salary arrears are paid.